Amandtjs metzger



(No Model.)

A. METZGER.

ELECTRIC SWITGH.

No. 471,271. Patented'Mar. 22,1892.

lhvrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMANDUS METZGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,271, dated March 22, 1892.

Application filed June 6, 1891. Serial No. 395,313. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AMANDUS METZGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electrical Switches, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to switches for making and breaking electrical circuits; and the object of my invention is to provide a switch which shall be strong and at the same time shall be simple to construct and shall be made of the fewest possible number of parts.

The invention consists in the improved mode of making switches and in the improved switch hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a view, partly in section, of a complete switch. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a sheet-metal blank used in the switch, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same blank bent into shape for use.

I will first describe the manner in which I form the contact springs or terminals of the switch. From a sheet of brass or other suit-- able metal I cut a blank, preferably in the form of a cross, having arms 1 2 3 4., as clearly shown in Fig. 2, although, of course, the length and shape of the several arms, as well as the number of arms, may be varied. I then bend the two arms 2 4, so that they stand at about a right angle to the main body of the blank, as shown in Fig. 3, and I bend the arms 1 3 in the opposite direction, giving them also a reverse bend, thereby forming the hookshaped extensions clearly shown in Fig. 1 at 1 3'. Instead of bending the arm 1 back, as shown in full lines, it may be bent forward, as shown in dotted lines at 1". In the blank is formed a screw-hole 5. In the upright arms when the terminal is to be used at the rear end of the switch-armthat is, at the top in Fig. 1 holes are provided for the reception of the bolt 6, which forms the pivot of the The base of the switch is made of artificial stone or other insulating material or composition which can be molded or otherwise formed around the downward extensions of the terminals.

In making up the switch Iform the blanks as already described, support them in the desired relation to each other, and then mold the base-block 10 in the desired shape around the bent arms 1 3, whereby the integral sheetmetal terminals are by this single act secured in place and rigidly held. As already indicated, an entire terminal consists of a single piece of sheet metal with the addition of a slight reinforcing-block for reception of the connecting-screw, and the amount of metal employed is reduced to the minimum. So, also, is the labor required in manufacturing the switches, and the construction is such that it is impossible for the terminals of the switch to get disarranged without actually breaking the material of which the base is formed.

What I claim is- 1. The combination, with an insulating switch-base, of a circuit-terminal consisting of a single piece of sheet metal having two arms extending from the base and having an arm embedded in the base, a second terminal, and a switch-arm adapted to connect said terminals, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a switch, of a composition base, a switch-arm, and a circuit terminal or contact having in an integral piece hook-shaped extensions projecting from the main body of the terminal and embedded within the body of said base, and extensions projecting in the opposite direction from the body of the terminal and connected or adapted to be connected with the switch-arm, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a switch, of an insulating-base and circuit terminals or contacts, each consisting of a single piece of sheet metal having extensions projecting from the I 5 tially as described.

5. The combination, in a switch, of an insulating-base, a sheet-metal terminal provided with a screw-hole and having extensions embedded in said base, a screw for connecting a circuit-Wire thereto, and a reinforcing metal block having a screw-hole in line with the first mentioned hole, substantially as de scribed.

This specification signed and witnessed this 2d day of June, 1891.

AMANDUS METZGER.

Witnesses:

CHARLES M. CATLIN, J. A. YOUNG. 

